"My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, has clearly explained, the estates of deceased customers of NS&I were not always repaid money from all their accounts following a bereavement claim. The operational failure was identified in December 2025 but reported to Ministers and publicised only in March 2026. The …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech
"My Lords, my Amendment 81 in this group addresses a single issue. There is no possible way that the Small Business Commissioner can achieve his or her purpose without a strong whistleblowing framework incorporated into the office.
In this legislation, the commissioner is not even a prescribed person required to …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech
"My Lords, we support devolving more economic power to local areas, but any visitor tax must come alongside vital relief for a sector that is already struggling under the Government’s NIC hikes, which happened not so very long ago. So, will the Government enact an emergency 5p cut on VAT …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech
"My Lords, these allegations, if accurate, would represent a shocking breach of public trust by an organisation now owned directly by the Government. But it also demonstrates a failure of the current whistleblowing framework that, to be heard and to have some measure of protection, the whistleblower has had to …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech
"My Lords, mini-tenders, even by firms otherwise authorised by the FCA, fall below the FCA’s regulatory threshold. In the future, can the Financial Ombudsman require remedy for an investor caught in a mini-tender bait and switch, or do the clauses in the new financial services Bill requiring the FOS to …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech
"My Lords, I thought the Committee might like to be reminded why such a radical step as ring-fencing was taken after the 2008 financial crisis. It was in part because, in a universal bank encompassing both retail and wholesale banking, failure in the investment bank could and did destroy the …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech
"My Lords, this group originally preceded the one we just debated. I noticed the change this morning. My points in this group on ring-fencing are quite narrow. I am not particularly happy about the changes in Clauses 39 and 40, but I do not feel strongly enough that we need …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech
"My Lords, we on these Benches in large part support the amendments in this group, with a few caveats. It is important to emphasise the frustration that we do not have today, and do not seem to see in the near future, that comprehensive regulatory framework that will draw together …..." Baroness Kramer - View Speech